Blues

Blues Explorations

So during the first week in February the Blues clubs up and down Beale Street were alive with bands representing Blues Societies from around the world. As over 100 bands and 80 solo/duo acts participated in the 27th International Blues Challenge hosted by The Blues Foundation Now for the first 26 years of the Challenges existence I never heard of it (big surprise there), but I had heard of some of the IBC alumni like Tommy Castro and Susan Tedesci. This last year though I’ve listened and ...

So on the ride up to South Brunswick this morning, the soundtrack of the trip was Turquoise, the new album from Devon Allman. Now I’ve heard Devon before on both his album with The Honeytribe, and his work with Royal Southern Brotherhood and I think that this is some of best work. Here’s some background on Devon from Wikipedia:
Devon is the son of Gregg Allman (of The Allman Brothers Band) and Shelley Kay Jefts. His parents divorced when he was an infant, and he grew up in Corpus Ch...

So in honor of St. Patrick’s Day and my McCloskey ancestors, yes, they are the ones that my wife keeps finding newspaper articles about often being arrested in Beverly. Mostly for drunk and disorderly behavior including, my great-grandmother Margaret McCloskey Ashton, I listened to some Irish blues men, Rory Gallagher and Gary Moore. Now Rory Gallagher is one of those artist that I’ve heard the name and never really listened to their music, while Garry Moore I’ve heard and re...

Sometimes my first impressions suck! See I once said after the première of the TV show Cheers that it was pretty good except I wasn’t sure about the theme song! And I said that I didn’t know how long they could keep up the premise of the TV show Perfect Strangers! How about for eight seasons!! And after the first listen to The Devil You Know, the new release from Tommy Castro and the Painkillers I wasn’t sure if it was that good! Hey, it’s very, very and maybe a few more ...

So last weekend 230 Blues bands from around the world converged on Memphis for the 29th International Blues Challenge. The bands play in Blues Clubs up and down Beale Street with the grand finale held in the Orpheum Theater. Here’s Matt Marshall’s recap of the winners as posted at the American Blues Scene:
After a powerful fight between finalists, Suncoast Blues Society’s Selwyn Birchwood Band was crowned the Best Band winner of this year’s IBC. German Blues Network’s Michael van Mer...

Today I was out doing field work but on the way there I listened to B B King’s Bluesville on XM Radio to get some ideas for listening one of the first artists I heard this morning was Elmore James. I know James’ name more than his music but the track that I heard was good so I thought , hum maybe I’ll listen to some of his music when I get home! A little while later I heard John Lee Hooker’s son John Lee Hooker, Jr and again a good track. I thought maybe I’ll list...

So yesterday afternoon, after hearing Marley’s Ghost cover Paul Siebel’s “She Makes Me Lose My Blues”, I went to the original and listened to some of Paul’s music. The first track was the same song, I think Paul was one of the first folkies to have that Western twang in his music! Then came some of the other favorites like “Then Came the Children”, “My Town” and two all time favorites “Louise” and “Long Afternoons”. I...

So over the last few weeks I’ve been using MOG and find that the site has a lot of great music almost as much stuff I like as Napster did! I really like the way they post albums for your taste based on what you’ve been listening to and tell you, that you’ll like this because you listened to that. In the last couple of days I’ve found two bands that I really like and had never heard of before. The first one was the Coen Wolters Band. The band hails from the Netherlands and...

So one of the artist that I noticed on the Indigenous Music Culture. RPM music page was Robbie Antone’s Blues Machine. When I read in his biography that the band were:
Winners of 2012 Jack Richardson Music Award for Best Blues/R&B,
2012 Memphis International Blues Challenge, semi‐finalists and
2011 London Free Press Local Album of the Year winners
I felt I had a better than fair chance of liking the band. As soon as I heard Robbie’s harp playing I knew I was a fan!! Robbie Antone...

After the trip to the basement to browse through the vinyl, I came up with five albums to put on the turntable and listen to and remember when. Tonight I listened to one side of each of the albums. The albums were: An Anthology of British Blues, featuring various British blues musicians, Lord Sutch and His Heavy Friends, The Souther Hillman Furay Band, A Long Time Comin’ The Electric Flag, and David Buskin.
As I said, An Anthology of British Blues released on Immediate Records in 1970 w...

On Tuesday of this week the new album, The Blues Came Callin’ from Walter Trout was released, and it has been in my rotation since then, like all of Walter’s work it is amazing! The most amazing thing is that he recorded the album, while he was waiting for a liver transplant! He was doing exactly what the opening track of the album says he was “Wasting Away”, during the later part of his illness, Walter lost over 100 pounds! When I went to his website, and looked at his...

Ok so, it’s Blues Wednesday and I started by listening to Jonny Lang’s album Live at the Ryman. The last Live at the Ryman album I listened to was Robert Earl Keen so somehow to me blues at the Ryman just isn’t the way I think of the venue. Anyway the album and Jonny’s guitar wizardry was good! There were some tracks that really caught my attention but I’ll listen again and write more later.
Next I had to change genres because I was writing and I went to Rhapsod...

Tuesday of this week, December 17th was the birthday of a blues rocker and a great harmonica player Paul Butterfield. Butterfield is one of those great pioneers in rock that I never really listened to that much. By the time I really started listening to rock guitarist Mike Bloomfield had left the band to form The Electric Flag, which was an early favorite of mine, and by 1971 the band had broken up and Butterfield was touring and recording in various settings that included: Paul Butter...

Jimmy Thackery – Band Jimmy Thackery & the Drivers
Born:May 19, 1953
I first discovered Jimmy Thackery &the Drivers in the late 90s, in the period where my sons and I visited Tunes Used CD store in Marlton every week. My introduction to his music was his 1994 release Trouble Man that I picked up on cassette. I’m listening to it now remembering what a great album it is! Check it out!! I loved the album since then several of his albums are in my music library. I ...

So yesterday I noticed an album on the ZenV that I had downloaded one Blues Wednesday and then never listened to it! The album was Exodus the 2008 release from Roger Hurricane Wilson so today I gave it a listen and boy am I glad I did! Exodus is Wilson’s eighth album. His music is electric blues tinged with some Americana but Wilson’s great guitar shines through the whole album! Here’s what some pretty good bluesmen say about Roger:
“That boy knows what he’s doing...

Jimmy Thackery – Band Jimmy Thackery & the Drivers Born:May 19, 1953 I first discovered Jimmy Thackery &the Drivers in the late 90s, in the period where my sons and I visited Tunes Used CD store in Marlton every…Read more

Tomislav Goluban – Blow Junkie – Great Blues Harp from Croatia The other day when I was reviewing the Roots Music Reports latest Blues Chart I was intrigued by the album at number 49 Blow Junkie from Tomislav Goluban. First,…Read more

Tomislav Goluban – Blow Junkie – Great Blues Harp from Croatia The other day when I was reviewing the Roots Music Reports latest Blues Chart I was intrigued by the album at number 49 Blow Junkie from Tomislav Goluban. First,…Read more

Riley B.B.King (September 16, 1925 – May 14, 2015), The King of the Blues I look at the world and I notice it’s turning While my guitar gently weeps With every mistake we must surely be learning Still my guitar gently…Read more

Brandon Santini – Live & Extended! I love blues harmonica! I guess it stems back to listening to guys like John Mayall, Sonny Terry, Paul Butterfield and Sonny Boy Williamson in the 70s. Over the years, the list of my…Read more

A Trip to the Princeton Record Exchange Yields Seven New Treasures! So on Wednesday night, my son Nicholas and I went bargain-hunting at the Princeton Record Exchange, armed with our Christmas Gift Cards. I had a $25.00 gift card…Read more

The title of the new album from Steve Krase is Buckle Up (featuring Trudy Lynn) and that’s just what you should do before you listen to the album! Buckle up and get ready for a wild ride! The worst thing about…Read more

Last year 2013 was a great year for Chicago Blues artist Lurrie Bell. Bell, the son of the great blues harpist Carey Bell released one of his most successful solo albums, Blues in My Soul. Blues in My Soul, released…Read more

So today is the 88th birthday of probably the greatest blues musician of all time and certainly the one whose been at the top of his craft the longest, B.B. King!! First, here’s the obligatory background information from Wikipedia, like…Read more

The British Blues Music Awards were held last Sunday night, I will review the total list at some point today and write about the winners, but for now here is a post I wrote after listening to the album Standing…Read more